Don Mort

NHS bosses will press ahead with proposals to close an A&E department and centralise emergency care in Halifax despite an angry public backlash.

A public consultation will be launched on plans to make Calderdale Royal Hospital a centralised emergency care centre for Halifax and Huddersfield.

Huddersfield’s A&E would be downgraded to an urgent care centre treating less serious ailments and the town’s main hospital site at Lindley could be knocked down if the plans go ahead.

There were noisy protests outside the Briar Court Hotel in Huddersfield this afternoon as bosses from Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) met to discuss the shake-up of hospital services.

People gathered outside said they were worried about the distances ambulances would have to travel between the hospitals to get people to A&E.

Protester Keiron Wadsworth, 27, said: “It’s disgusting. I understand there are budgets but there must be another way round this.

“Everybody knows how mad the traffic is. God bless the paramedics because this is just going to make their job harder.”

More than 80 people crammed into a room at the hotel for the meeting but some were turned away at the doors when there was no more room.

Speakers from the two CCGs were frequently interrupted by shouts from members of the public and struggled to make themselves heard at times as they set out the case for reorganising hospital services.

The meeting was told NHS services in Calderdale and Huddersfield faced a £281m funding gap between now and 2021-22.

The shake-up plan would see new investment in both hospitals, paid for with £490m of government funding.